Growing and Changing
by StuffedCrustLord
Summary: (The Sequel to 'I won't lose you') Everything has changed in the Hinata house ever since the accident, and no one has been affected more so than Giroro. So Kululu decides to help him out by doing something that he thinks will fix everything. But will it really help Giroro, or will it just make things worse? (Obvious Answer)
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 COMPLETE! Here's the REAL chapter 1...**

**Also, just a reminder, since this is the sequel to 'I won't lose you', I suggest reading THAT story before this one if you haven't already. Unless you cry easily. In which case DOOOOOOOOON'T DO IIIIIIIIIIIT!**

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It's been one year since she died, and almost everything and everyone has changed in the Hinata house.

Fuyuki has become a lot more like his sister ever since he lost her. He figured that with his mom always out working on her manga and with Natsumi gone, it was up to him to fill in the important role as the authority figure in the house. He acts bossy every now and then, but still keeps that charming, friendly, Fuyuki attitude. Without Natsumi around to stop the frogs from going too far with their invasion plans, Fuyuki had to fill in for that part as well. He acts more like Natsumi each day, but tries his hardest not to act like he's replacing her.

Keroro has also changed greatly. Everyone thought that with Natsumi gone, there would be no one to stand in his way of completing his mission. But instead, Keroro has sort of slacked off on invading. He usually only thinks about the mission once a month or when one of his platoon members brings it up. But it just seems that without Natsumi around, he's just pushed the invasion to the back of his head. He's mostly just been concentrating on his normal habits, like Gumpla and TV. He's also been working much harder on chores (which he's been doing a lot more of since their calenders have all been refilled with only Keroro and Fuyuki stickers). Natsumi would always threaten to beat Keroro up if he didn't do the chores right, which is why he hated doing them so much. But ever since Fuyuki took over for Natsumi, Keroro considers Fuyuki as his older brother, so now he thinks about his chores more as a duty than manual labor.

Aki has felt incredibly empty without Natsumi around. She only heard the bad news when Fuyuki called her and told her while she was at work. She never even said goodbye to her own child. She's been working a lot harder at work since the accident. She knows how much Fuyuki has grown since he lost his sister, and trusts him to look over the house. He gets along well with Keroro and the other frogs, so she knew everything would be fine without her around. But she still thinks about her daughter every day for almost every hour. Once in a while she likes to sneak into the living room late at night and watch some old home movies of Natsumi as a baby, which always made her laugh, and sometimes cry.

Kululu hasn't changed that much since the accident. He still keeps his joker like attitude (which no one has EVER cared for), but still can be serious and sometimes careful when he needs to be. During the few days after Natsumi's funeral, Kululu was acting much more different than usual. It was like he was another frog entirely. He never pulled any sick pranks or told any cruel-hearted jokes, nor did he ever talk bad about anything or anyone. He helped everyone out around the house, comforted them when they thought about Natsumi's death, and even acted like the kind of guy who you could talk to when you were feeling down. It was a side of Kululu no one had ever seen before or even knew existed! But as the months past, he began to act more and more like his old self again. Pulling pranks and laughing maniacally like he always did. Everyone knew his new kind-hearted phase wouldn't last, but at least now they can rest easy knowing that he actually has one.

But out of everyone in the house, nobody's changes can compare to the one who has changed the most because of the accident...Giroro.

He has become the total opposite of what he used to be. Just after the accident, he sold all of his weapons to the Space Market. The most important things to Giroro, the things that had been with him his entire life, and he just got rid of them all without a second thought. No one knew the reason, but they eventually concluded that he decided that with Natsumi gone, he had nothing left to protect, so he didn't think he needed them anymore. But after he sold his guns, things just began to get weirder and weirder. Giroro wasn't acting like the Giroro they knew for the past few years. He never went to the invasion meetings, never scolded Keroro about what it means to be a soldier, he didn't even bother to take care of his cat anymore. Fuyuki took the liberty of feeding her, but she still continues to sit in front of Giroro's tent every now and then and just starts meowing, waiting for him to come out and pet her, even if he never does.

Normally, Giroro would always just sit around in his tent all day, only coming out when he was called by Keroro or to roast sweet potatoes. But after the accident, he barely comes out at all. Even when Keroro summons everyone to the secret base, Giroro doesn't even bother to show up, even when he's told that it's an emergency (One thing that hasn't changed: Keroro losing an important Gumpla piece is still considered an emergency). The only time they practically ever see him is when he's outside of his tent late at night by his fire, roasting piles upon piles of sweet potatoes and just leaving them uneaten. It's almost like he thinks he's still making them for Natsumi, even when he knows he's just wasting them.

Finally, after one full year since Natsumi's death, Giroro finally made the announcement to the Hinata's and to his platoon that he has decided to leave Pekopon. Everyone was devastated by the news, but knew that perhaps it was for the best (even after the nine straight hours of Keroro begging him to stay).

It was now 7:30 AM at the Hinata residents. The grass outside was wet while the grey clouds covered the entire sky. A cold, icy wind blew through the air while one certain soldier was getting ready to leave.

'Today's the day.' Giroro thought to himself as he finally finished packing everything except for his belt into one hiking bag. He decided he would leave his belt on until he left the planet. 'I'll go to the station early and wait there until the train arrives. That way, no one will know I've left, hopefully avoiding having them throw me some 'going away' party. That is...unless they're all already at the station waiting for me.' the thought of being the center of attention like it was his birthday made him sick. 'No, Fuyuki knows how much I hate those. He wouldn't let them embarrassed me like that.'

This being his last day on Pekopon, it made him remember all of the memories he had made during his stay here. He thought about the adventures he had, the things he's learned, and the people he met. Thinking about that made him remember the one person who kept him from invading in the first place. The person who had turned him from a cold-hearted warrior into, in the words of Kululu, a 'Big Red Softy'. Several happy memories of her smiling face caused a small tear to appeared in the corner of his eye, which he quickly wiped away.

'Would Natsumi want me to stay? No, everyone else has already moved on. I can't make them all suffer with me anymore. All I'm doing is causing pain to her family. It's for the best if I just leave.' he finally made up his mind before grabbing his bag and marching out of his ten, only to run into a certain someone sitting outside his door.

"Meow!" his cat said when she saw him walk out. Giroro looked down at his cat for a few seconds before sighing and bending down to pet her. He scratched the top of her head a few times as she loudly purred to her former owner.

"She's missed you a lot." said a low-toned voice, catching Giroro's attention. Giroro looked up, where he saw an unfamiliar Pekoponian boy standing above him. He had dark blue hair that went down to the back of his neck, black jeans, a red sweatshirt, and was several inches taller than Giroro had imagined he would be after just one year.

"Heh, you're a lot more different than I remember, Fuyuki." Giroro stated, making the boy giggle.

"Thanks. So, today's the day, huh. Believe it or not, but we're really gonna miss you around here. I'm sure Natsumi would hate to see you go." he said, making Giroro huff and turn his head away from Fuyuki.

There was a short silence between the two before Keroro opened the back door. "Hey, Fuyuki-dono! Is he up ye..." Keroro shouted before he saw Giroro standing outside his tent, petting his cat. Keroro jumped with joy when he saw him for the first time ever since he announced that he was leaving. He felt like running up and hugging him, but he knew Giroro wouldn't be fond of that, and it was too early to get his ribs broken. So he just walked up to his Corporal and gave him a quick salute. He didn't salute back.

"So, Giroro-gochou, when's the train arriving?" Keroro asked.

"A few hours from now." he answered, still refusing to look at either of them. Keroro smiled.

"Well then what are you doing packing up so soon!? How about we have a party! Just one last celebration before you leave!" Keroro shouted. Giroro growled at Keroro's idea while Fuyuki turned his head and gave Keroro a disappointed look.

"Gunso, maybe you should get going on that laundry." he said. Keroro sighed before slowly turning around and walking back inside. Once he was back inside, Fuyuki bent down and placed his hand on Giroro's shoulder.

"I know he can be annoying, but he just wants you to be happy. He'll miss you when you leave, as we all will." Fuyuki told him before taking his hand off his shoulder and walking back inside.

Giroro stood there, a million thoughts at once rushing through his mind. 'Should I say goodbye before leaving? Does anyone even want to see me after how I've acted all year? Should I even bother to contact them again after I'm gone? Do they hate me?' these thoughts fought each other in his mind until he couldn't take it anymore and slapped himself in the face. He stood there thoughtless for a while, staring blankly at the soggy grass under his feet. He felt his cat rub herself against his leg with another loud 'Meow' after it. He went back to petting her one last time before finally deciding to say his goodbyes to everyone he loved.

Beneath the house, Kululu sat in his lab chair, checking his computer for how the data is coming along. He laughed out loud when he saw the results.

"Kukukuku...it's finished." he said to himself maniacally. He pressed a few buttons across his keyboard, causing a small hatch to open out of his desk. A large vial full of what looked like blood slowly rose up out of it. He then walked over to a nearby machine and placed the vial into a metal holder attached to the devise. He pushed the vial inside and pulled a small switch, activated the machine. He stood back and laughed at how his new project was on the verge of completion.

Giroro stood in front of that horribly ugly door. Kululu's giant head standing in front of him. Knowing what he had to do, Giroro took a deep breathe and prepared himself. 'Alright, I've said goodbye to everyone except him. God, this is gonna be even harder on me than leaving.' he thought. He took one step forward when the door suddenly swerved open, revealing Kululu standing in the doorway.

"Corporal Giroro...perfect timing. Kukukuku." he laughed.

"K-Kululu..." Giroro answered. "...I should have guessed. You knew I was coming didn't you. And you also probably know why I'm here."

"Of course. Kuku. It really is sad to see you go. I thought at least you of all people would see this invasion through until the end." Kululu began to tease the Corporal, but it didn't bother Giroro that much, knowing that it would be the last time he would ever have to hear his voice. Giroro let out a quiet sigh as he walked up to the yellow inventor and held out his hand.

"Goodbye, Kululu. As much as it pains me to admit it, you're actually a pretty good soldier. I know you like to make your rude comments and pretend like it all doesn't matter, but I know there's still a strong warrior inside you somewhere. And if there is, I'm sure that he always knows exactly what he's doing. It...was a pleasure to work with you." Giroro told him as his hand still remained unshook. Kululu stood motionless, staring Giroro down as he waited for a response. About a minute of silence went by until Giroro eventually put his arm down.

"Fine. Have it your way." he said as he grabbed his bag and began walking away. Kululu continued to stand there as Giroro walked away from him until he finally spoke up.

"Before you go..." he said, stopping Giroro in his tracks. He turned around to see Kululu holding a small remote in his hand, ready to push it. "...I have something to give you. Call it a 'going away present'. I press!"

He pressed the button and a massive hole in the floor opened up, causing steam to burst out from inside it. Giroro waved his hand across his face to blow the steam away when he saw something else rise from under the floor. It appeared to be a tall figure, most likely a Pekoponian. It wasn't until the steam began to clear that he began to notice some familiar traits. The hair, the posture, it reminded him so much of someone he knew. His eyes widened and his heart nearly stopped when he finally remembered who it was. Then, she spoke.

"Giroro...is that you?"

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**Well, that was Chapter 1! I plan on this story having about five chapters, six at most. Hope you enjoyed...**


	2. Chapter 2

**HAPPY HALLOWEEN, EVERYONE!**

**Chapter 2 is now done! And for those of you who think that this story is just a repeat of Episode 150, I promise you it's not! But then again, some of you also might argue that my first story was just a repeat of episode 50. Well, to that I say...**

**...**

**Ehh, let's continue!**

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Giroro couldn't believe what he was seeing. There she was. Giroro's princess. His partner. His love. She was standing right in front of him once again, back from the dead. The only person he had ever truly fallen in love with, yet also the only person who he had ever really killed. In all his years of being a soldier, always thinking about life on the battlefield, he had never been forced to put another soldier out of his misery before that day. Before that day, he always thought of having to kill another being for their own good as just another thing any warrior would have to do, and got pretty annoyed when he saw them crying over it while watching one of the Pekoponian war movies. But after what happened, he finally understood why it was always so hard for soldiers like him. Seeing her standing in front of him once again only brought back horrific memories of her dying face.

He stood there silent for a moment before sprinting over to Kululu and forcing him into the wall. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO!?" he screamed.

"Kukukuku..." he laughed back, driving Giroro to show his fangs in a rage. "...think of it as a going away present. A complete DNA copy of her that I obtained several years ago. I saw how depressed you were after she passed away, which is why I've been working on it ever since. She has all of Natsumi's original memories, all the way up to the point of her death. I guess now you two can finally pick up where you left off. Kuku. Hope you like it."

Giroro held Kululu up before throwing him across the floor as hard as he could, breaking his glasses and knocking him unconscious. Natsumi ran over to Giroro and prepared to hug him.

"Giroro!" she cried as tears of joy slid down her cheeks. "I'm so glad to see you again!"

"SHUT UP!" Giroro yelled back, stopping her in her tracks.

"What?! But...it's me! Natsumi!" she said, bringing Giroro's anger to its peak.

"YOU...ARE NOT...NATSUMI!" he screamed, wishing he still had his guns so that he could personally kill this hellish memory. "YOU'RE NOTHING LIKE HER AND YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO SAY HER NAME! GO BACK INTO THE CLONING MACHINE WHERE YOU CAME FROM!"

Natsumi stood there, shaking and heartbroken. Giroro no longer cared for her, nor did he want to even look at her. 'What did I do?' she thought to herself. 'I thought he said he loved me. That he always had. That he couldn't bare to live without me.'

"But...Giroro..." she said as she watched Giroro walk past her in a storm of rage. He paused when he heard her talk.

"Don't say my name." he quietly threatened. "I don't love you, and I never will. Go back to the land of the dead and this time, stay there." he said as he continued walking while she remained frozen, with tears still pouring out of her eyes, but now with pain in place of joy.

Giroro, reaching the back door after seeing what Kululu had done, stormed out of the house as quickly as he could. He had to leave now as to not destroy the entire house in a act of fury. He was beyond upset at that idiot scientist, wanting nothing more than to leave this planet and never think of it again. Staying here did nothing but give him haunting memories and steal his pride as a soldier.

"I can't believe I stuck around here for three goddamn years!" he yelled to himself as he grabbed his red sack that held the last of his belongings and threw them over his shoulder. "I should have just left the platoon the minute I got here and took over this planet myself!"

He always knew that he could do it without his Sargent's help. He even knew it was his platoon that was holding him back and making this invasion impossible, even when it probably could have only taken him a week or two by himself. But he remained in denial for years on end, sticking with his worthless platoon the whole time, and all to keep his lost love safe.

He missed her so much, but seeing her again, alive and well, still filled his heart with the same pain he felt seeing her die. 'How can I miss her so much and still hate seeing her at the same time!? These damn Pekopoian emotions are going to be the end of me!'

But they had already caused him his downfall. It was her death that finally killed the power driven soldier inside of him. After seeing her die, he lost all contact with his fighting side and accepted a life of pain and depression. He had always felt that way when something terrible happened to her in the past, but losing her is what finally finished it. She had done what she was brought into his life to do. Her dying goal had been achieved. She had completely transformed him. He was no longer the strong soldier that everyone knew him as. He lost everything about him when he put her out of his misery, and can never return to that part of himself.

'I wish I had never met her!' he thought.

He leaped onto his hover board and took off as fast as he could, eager to reach the station and take the first train off this planet, not caring where it would take him. Turning his head as to take one last look back at the Hinata house, he began to wonder what they might do after he's gone. They certainly won't finish the invasion, that's for sure. But ever since Natsumi's death, no real danger has ever shown up to threaten them or anyone they knew. Thinking it over, Giroro concluded that there would be no difference on Pekopon whether he left or not, so he turned his head back to the sky and tried his best to remove the Hinatas from his mind.

"Giroro-gochou!" Keroro shouted as he ran through the house and into the back yard. "What kind of cake will you be wanting for your going away party?!" Keroro ran with his eyes closed up to where he knew Giroro's tent was, but when he opened his eyes, he stopped in his tracks when he saw nothing there. He stood silent for a few seconds before it finally clicked in his head that Giroro had already left.

He leaned his head down in shame, knowing that it was his responsibility as Giroro's Sargent and friend to make sure he was always calm and happy. Now he was gone, most likely forever, and left without any final farewell. Sure, he talked to him earlier and told him about how he's always respected him as a leader, but Keroro just figured he was trying to spend what little time he had left before leaving to the fullest. He wanted a final goodbye that actually felt like an honest 'goodbye'.

He remained still with his head down, trying to get over it for several minutes before Tamama ran outside looking for him. "Hey, Gunso-san! Did you find out what kind of cake he..." Tamama paused when he saw his depressed leader standing in front of an empty space in the grass where Giroro's tent once was.

"Gunso-san?" he asked, causing Keroro to lift his head up and wipe something out of his eyes. He stood silent for a few more seconds before answering Tamama's call.

"He's gone, Tamama." he replied, surprising Tamama with his Sargent's sudden mood change from joyous and excited to down and gloomy. "Our Corporal is gone. We've lost him." Keroro turned to his Private, tears still forming around the edges of his eyes. Tamama was in complete shock as Keroro slowly walked over to him and wiped the remainder of his tears away, standing straight up in a serious posture.

"We better go tell everyone the bad news." he said, trying not to choke on his own words.

A massive rain storm had covered the skies over Tokyo as Giroro finally arrived at the planetary train station. Thunder began to roll in as he pulled up on his hover board, jumped off, placed his sack by his side sat down on an old bench, waiting impatiently for the train to arrive so that he could leave this hell hole of a planet and never come back. He looked at his surroundings, at all the other alien families who were waiting for the train. He watched as they kissed and hugged each other in a sign of farewell, and it made Giroro sick.

'A true soldier doesn't make sappy goodbyes.' he thought, staring at the empty space in front of him where his friends and platoon would no doubt be standing right now, telling him how much they were all going to miss him.

'It's a good thing I left when I did.' he said to himself. 'I hate these touching emotions.'

"WHAT!?" Fuyuki yelled in surprise after hearing Keroro's explanation of why Giroro wasn't around.

"Yep." he replied with grief. "I guess he just couldn't take staying here anymore and flew the coop."

Heavy rain poured down on them as everyone had their heads down, an aching feeling in each of their stomachs from the shock that one of their best friends that they had known for years was now permanently gone. Keroro, Tamama, Dororo, Koyuki, Aki, Momoka and Fuyuki were in a deep depression when they saw his tent was gone after Keroro brought them all outside to show them he had already left. A tear rolled down Fuyuki's face before he brought his head up and screamed as loud as he could to Keroro.

"HOW COULD YOU!?" Fuyuki yelled, surprising Keroro, along with everyone else.

"Kero!?" he shouted back in a staggered tone. "W-What did I do?" Fuyuki ran up and grabbed Keroro under his arms, forcing him up to his face to stare him straight in the eyes.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU HELP HIM!? YOU WERE HIS SARGENT! HIS LEADER! AND YOU JUST LEFT HIM TO GRIEVE, NOT EVEN BOTHERING TO HELP HIM THROUGH IT! YOU SAY HE'S YOUR FRIEND, BUT IF HE REALLY WAS YOUR FRIEND, YOU WOULDN'T HAVE JUST SAT THERE AND LET HIM SUFFER!" Fuyuki cried, letting everything he had buried inside him out, shocking everyone around him.

Keroro was especially stunned by Fuyuki's random outburst. "W-What was I supposed to say to him? If I had tried to talk to him about it, he would've just ignored me or kicked me out of his tent! What did you expect me to do?"

"ANYTHING!" Fuyuki cried out once again, now squeezing Keroro's sides in an act of stress. "YOU COULD HAVE DONE ANYTHING TO HELP HIM! IF YOU HAD JUST BEEN THERE FOR HIM! IF YOU HAD AT LEAST SHOWN A SIGN THAT YOU STILL CARED ABOUT HIM, MAYBE HE WOULDN'T HAVE LEFT! YOU WERE HIS LIFE LONG FRIEND! IMAGINE ALL THE TIMES HE'S SAVED YOUR LIFE, EVEN WHEN HE DIDN'T HAVE TO! AND THE ONE TIME HE ACTUALLY NEEDED YOU TO BE THERE FOR HIM, YOU IGNORED HIM LIKE THE SELFISH BASTARD YOU ARE!"

"Fuyuki!" Aki yelled at her son's uncivilized use of language.

"SHUT UP!" Fuyuki said back, startling her mother and partially breaking her heart. Momoka stepped in front of Aki to try and reason with the broken teen's attitude.

"Fuyuki, please! Calm down! It's not his fault he's gone! And neither is it your mother's!" she said. That did cause Fuyuki to stop yelling, making the only noise to come from Fuyuki being the sound of his weeping.

Fuyuki dropped Keroro, making him land bottom first into the rain soaked grass under him. Fuyuki remained on his knees, his face now covered more with tears than rain water. Keroro slowly got back on his feet and looked up at the crying boy, feeling like some of what he said was actually true. What is really his fault that Giroro left?

"I'm sorry...Gunso. I'm sorry." Fuyuki said, trying not to look at Keroro, but still wanting to get his feelings towards him out. Everyone stood frozen, starstruck at what had just happened between those two. Keroro silently walked around Fuyuki, wanting nothing more than to comfort his best friend, but knew that Fuyuki just wanted to be left alone.

Everyone was silent until Tamama spoke up. "You know, I'm pretty sure the train hasn't arrived yet. We could still probably make it." he suggested, but everyone shook their heads.

"He would probably hate that. If he wanted an all around goodbye, he wouldn't have left early like he did." Aki said, just making everyone more depressed at the realization that Giroro couldn't even face them anymore.

Silence filled the air, the sound of rain pouring down and thunder clapping once or twice a minute were the only sounds present during the quiet misery of the Hinata's.

"I am to blame, aren't I?" Keroro said.

"You're all to blame!" said a mysterious and familiar voice from the back porch.

Everyone looked to the porch, and almost fainted in shock at who was standing right beside them. Some of them thought they were seeing things while other's had no thoughts at all from the surprise that struck them when they saw who they were now looking straight at.

It was Natsumi.

"It's because of all of you that he's gone. It's because of you that he left me." she spoke in a shaking and almost frightening voice. "It's because of you...all of you...that he won't love me..."

"...He WILL love me! But he can't love me with all of you bringing him down! For him to love me...none of you can be aloud to exist." she said, thunder roaring around her as she pulled a wooden ax out from behind her back.

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**O_O**

**Well, that was...interesting. Kululu really likes to make his experiments as mad as he is, doesn't he?**

**Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Time to get started on chapter 3!**


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